PDA
by Bananna
Summary: Public Display of Affection; how Warren and Layla officially became a couple.
1. Scene 1

Five minutes before the bell, students began surreptitiously packing up their pens, notebooks and shoving their books in their bags; ignoring the teacher's rules that no one was to pack up until after the bell had rung.

At the sound of the bell those who had taken the time to pack away their items leapt from their seats and rushed for the door. The rest of the students frantically packed away their stuff, eager to make it to the lunch room before the line got too long.

Layla and Magenta almost always brought their lunch, for different reasons of course. Layla brought hers because she could guarantee that anything she brought from home was vegetarian. Magenta brought hers because she had enough run ins with the school bullies demanding her lunch money. Having brought their lunch, they were in no rush to make it to the lunch room. Being the friends of the son of some of the greatest super heroes as well as considered "friend" material to one of the most feared students in the whole school pretty much made their table untouchable. Layla managed to get a quick "See you at lunch" out before Zack and Ethan rushed out the door. They didn't bring their lunches.

So it was that the two friends took their time in exiting the classroom, as neither of them relished being trampled or mauled. It was during their leisurely exit of their classroom that Magenta decided it was an appropriate time to bring up a certain topic of conversation. "So…how'd it go last night." She asked.

"He was a perfect gentleman." Layla said.

"You care to elaborate any?" Magenta asked.

Layla rolled her eyes at her friend. "He took me for ice cream after he got off work. There is nothing to tell."

Magenta gave her the "Oh come ON! You are so unbelievably naive" look. "There is always something to tell." She said, "Did he hold your hand? Did he walk you to your door? Did he kiss you goodnight? Details girl! Details!"

"There are no details." Layla told her. "Like I said he was a perfect gentleman."

This time Magenta gave her the "You have got to be kidding me/I know you aren't telling me the whole story" look.

Layla shook her head and rolled her eyes, gave a sigh of acquiescence and said; "I held his hand, yes he walked me to the door, I kissed him on the cheek and he ran for his car. Mage you know how he is with physical contact. He just doesn't initiate it and he barely accepts it."

"Yah, but he let you." Magenta said with a knowing smirk. "You guys doing anything tonight?" she asked.

"Mage!" Layla said exasperatedly. Magenta looked at her expectantly.

"He has to work again, and he said something about a paper due tomorrow that he still hasn't written. So, no, I'm not going to give him any more excuses to avoid homework." Layla finally answered.

"That's just so weird." Magenta said.

Layla looked over at her friend, unsure of how to take that comment. Before she could say anything Magenta continued.

"I mean, it's just so normal. He's pretty much a fire breathing dragon, you control plants, Zack glows, Ethan turns into a puddle of goop, Will flies, and for heaven's sake I can turn into a Ginny pig. Our parents all have super powers. Heck we go to school on a flying saucer!" She elaborated, "And he has an after school job as a bus boy in a Chinese restaurant."

Layla thought for a minute as they continued down the hall. "When you put it like that, it does seem a little ridiculous."

"There is something wrong with the world when a normal after school job is the weirdest part of your life." Magenta commented.

"Yah." Layla agreed with her friend.

There was a minute pause as both friends contemplated that statement.

"So...what are you two doing this weekend?" Magenta asked suggestively.

Layla was about to respond when she found their path blocked by a group of girls. This group of 15 to 20 girls quickly surrounded the two friends in the practically empty hall. The group consisted of villainess wannabes, heroes, sidekicks, blonds, brunets and fake-n-bakes, Goth to Goody-too-shoes. All of them wore looks of hostile possessiveness.

Magenta and Layla glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. "Can we help you?" Magenta asked in her usual deadpan.

The ring-leader, a villainess wannabe, stepped forward. She had done her best to make herself look the part of the stereotypical druggy/punk/goth. She was dressed in black and red leather, her outfit accented with torn fishnets, platform boots, spiked wrist bands, black nail polish and a spiked dog collar. Oh yes, and let's not forget the over the top black eye makeup, black lipstick, and numerous piercings on her face and ears.

"You." She pointed at Layla, "You were seen eating ice cream with Warren last night."

Ah yes, it clicked for both girls, the Warren Peace fan club. They were very possessive, or should I say obsessive, and just a tad bit nuts. They had banded together over their mutual lust for the hottest boy in school, and that's not referring to his core temperature. They had become a bit more forward in their advances toward him in the recent months, as they saw the semi successful attempt of the freshmen five to assimilate him into their social circle. The group of girls saw themselves as the only ones with the right to interact with him, and did just about anything to deter any girl that wasn't a fully pledged member of their group from getting near him.

Warren, in one of his rarer moments of talkativeness, had confided in both Will and Layla that the group annoyed the hell out of him, but as long as they kept most of the other rabid fan girls away from him he could tolerate their presence. Which is to be interpreted; I won't turn any of them into crispy critters as long as they don't come within 10 feet of me.

"That freeze bitch was bad enough." The ring leader continued, "what the hell makes you think you can touch him?" She managed to say 'you' with such disgust in her voice, it almost came out as an insult. For the most part, the majority of the girls were miffed, rather than actually angry and hateful. They just couldn't understand how the petit red headed flower girl, peace preacher, equal rights activist, and vegetarian could catch the epitome of hunkness' eye and they couldn't.

"Uh…he's my boyfriend." Layla said. They hadn't actually discussed the particulars. It had taken time on both their parts, as well as some hefty shoves from Will, for either of them to broach the subject. But the truth was, neither of them could deny the attraction. In truth, saying the word out loud in reference to Warren sent shivers down her spine like it never had when said in reference to Will. She smiled slightly when both her mind and heart agreed that the term fit.

"Bull!" someone shrieked.

"No way he'd go for a weak, prissy flower chick like you." Another exclaimed in protest.

"Well, it's true." Magenta really had no earthly idea why she said that without confirming with the reclusive pyro, but for some reason, it just made sense.

Her statement caused murmurs of outrage to flow through the group.

"Prove it." The leader said, knowing full well that the object of the group's desire didn't let anyone touch him and letting them walk away without a minimum of a second degree burn.

"How would you like me to prove it?" Layla asked, managing to not roll her eyes.

The ring leader stuck her nose in the air as if she knew that she would be winning. "Kiss him at lunch. Not a peck on the cheek, a full on lip lock." She demanded.

Magenta watched as a rather disturbing smile spread across her friend's face.

"Fine." She said almost too cheerily.

The ring leader was taken aback at Layla's lack of intimidation.

"I kiss him and he doesn't fry me proves that I'm his girlfriend." She said, "And…"

The ring leader narrowed her eyes in anticipation of something she surely wouldn't like.

"If I kiss him and he doesn't fry me, you agree to leave him and me alone for…" she paused to think of an appropriate length of time, "ever."

Magenta almost laughed out loud when the ring leader's eyes went wide and her nostrils flared in her surprise at Layla's demand.

But Layla wasn't finished. "That means you disband this ridiculous club of yours and stop stalking him."

Magenta looked sideways at her friend with approval; approval for her demand and for her demeanor. Layla had always been outspoken, standing up for what she thought was right. But lately, she had been standing up for herself more, forging her own path.

The group of girls surrounding them looked at each other, unsure of what to do. The two that they had surrounded not only refused to be intimidated by them, but they were demanding that they forget about their object of desire. Their leader was open mouthed and furious, but it was apparent that Layla was not going to back down. She took a step back; the motion drew her oldest and most trusted followers to her. They deliberated in harsh whispers, the others in their group looked on nervously.

Remembering an incident near the beginning of school, before homecoming when the red head had been seen trying to hold his hand and being burned for it; the group made their decision. The leader stepped back up to Layla's face with a smug expression on her face, confident that they would win this round.

"Great!" Layla chirped, not at all fazed by the older girl's demeanor. "If you will follow us to the lunch room, we can get this out of the way and enjoy the rest of our day."

The other girl stepped out of the way, only slightly weirded out by Layla's cheery acceptance of quite possibly the one of the most dangerous dares a school for super kids could present.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Magenta asked in a light whisper as they resumed their journey toward the lunch room.

Layla just looked at her best female friend. The look was correctly interpreted as; "Trust me", "I know something you don't know", "Oh ye of little faith", and "You ain't seen nothin' yet" all at the same time.

Magenta responded to her friend with a shake of the head and a roll of the eyes. This was meant to be interpreted as; "Ok, your funeral." But Layla just smiled and kept walking.

The entered the lunch room. The little confrontation had not taken as much time as they had thought. The typical cacophony of mixed conversations assaulted their ears. There was still a line at the lunch counter, but it was dwindling. Layla paused at the door to scan the room for her target. Magenta could only describe Layla's smile as predatory when she spotted the tall, dark, and handsome young man they were looking for. Layla nodded once to herself as if reaffirming her course of action, and then started off after the well built young man.

From the view of an objective observer, what happened next could only be described as hysterically comical. For all intents and purposes, there were only three objective observers present in the lunch room. But that was only because they were able to overcome their shock more quickly than the rest of the student body, which they were only able to do because they had been expecting something like this to happen, though admittedly not quite like this.

Several students nearly chocked, one or two had slight panic attacks, and the rest of the lunch room went completely silent; everyone frozen in place when Layla's sing song voice was heard.

"Oh Warren, my cutie-pie sweet heart."

Warren had come to a grudging acceptance that he was not going to get rid of the little group of freshmen that had decided to invade his life. Even though he had very recently come to the conclusion that Will and Layla could indeed be trusted with the title friend and all things pertaining to such; he was still very much unused to the attention that they practically lavished on him. It drove him nuts, but he could tolerate it. What he couldn't tolerate was being called pet names. He was surprisingly patient and forgiving, but his male ego just couldn't stand for the pet names; nick names possibly, but pet names…

Upon hearing his name and the ridiculously disgusting combination of pet names in the same sentence, he stopped dead in his tracks. Later, when asked about it, several students in the vicinity would swear that they felt the temperature in the room plummet; which is a rather interesting notation considering the person at the center of the phenomenon usually increases the temperature.

Several thoughts flashed through his mind as he turned around to face the culprit:

1. Layla, I like Layla…

2. Honeysuckle, Layla always smells like Honeysuckle

3. …

4. She did NOT just say that!

5. She DID!

6. What. The. Hell.

Rage was burning in his eyes.

"I thought I made it perfectly clear that you are NEVER to call me something like that!" he said in the most menacing way he could. Then he pushed past her, frying anyone and everyone who dared look at him. oh, and he torched the flowers in her locker on his way out of the building. Then he decided to pointedly ignore her for the next week, or at least until she apologized for publically humiliating him.

Or rather, that is what he pieced together several days after the fact as a "what I would have done if things had turned out differently" plan.

Now, what really happened…

Layla didn't give him the chance to act on the rage she saw in his eyes. Time seemed to come to a screeching halt as the petit red head launched herself at him and proceeded to kiss him for everything he was worth. Needless to say, his brain was very effectively short circuited.

By the time he was able to put together a coherent thought; one of the students, convinced that they were about to have a homicide on their hands, quickly scrambled out the door to fetch the principle.

The rest of the student population (minus the small group that called themselves friend to both people of interest) watched on in fascinated horror as he pushed her away from himself, bringing the rather involved kiss to an end.

"What the Hell!" he didn't quite shout. He was rather off balance at this point, and it was really the only thing his brain could get out.

"Well Snookums," Layla said as she batted her eyes at him, "Your little fan club dared me to kiss you."

"Snookums?!?" was all he could say, his voice was a mixture of horror and disbelief, the same emotions were plainly etched on his handsome face. She didn't give him a chance to fully process the situation before she kissed him again.

The student population gasped as one. One of the fan club members fainted.

It didn't take him quite as long this time to pull his brain back together and he pushed her away again. "If you thing that makes up for…" He didn't get to finish as she once again assaulted his lips.

This time he was able to think about the situation and what she had said before he pushed her away again. Holding her at arm's length he glanced behind her and saw a rather irate group of girls standing in the doorway to the lunch room. His cleverness and his ability to think quickly on his feet was something that Layla had told him she admired about him. Using those traits, he narrowed his eyes at the red head as put together a plausible explanation for her behavior.

"So…public displays of affection will keep them away?" he asked.

"Yup." She happily answered him.

He took a minute to roll that over in his mind. Finally coming to a conclusion he relaxed his suspicious gaze and shrugged. "I guess I can live with that."

Her answering smile was nothing but triumphant. Then before anyone could breathe, he pulled her to him and kissed her senseless.

The tables were turned.

To say that he was an excellent kisser would be the understatement of the century. The things he could do with his tongue…

Her legs turned to Jello. It was all she could do to wrap her arms around his neck…

Just as suddenly as he had turned her plot against her, he was hone; pushed her away and stalked out of the lunch room with nothing more than a "See you later Hippy."

Not even crickets dared to chirp in his wake.

Principle Powers expected to find her lunch room in a state of pandemonium (not unlike the time when she had asked a certain student to take the first opportunity to try and scare a certain other student into having his powers surface). What greeted her when she entered the lunch room was definitely not pandemonium. She involuntarily paused, quickly reevaluating the situation.

Instead of chaos and screaming and fire and cement dust she found astonished silence. Off to the side there was a group of girls fanning another girl, all of whom looked like they had just been notified that their favorite dog and been run over. There was a clear path through the crowd of stunned students. She followed the path as shortly came upon a table where her resident equality activist sat with the most ridiculous dazed and goofy grin plastered on her face, staring off into space. She looked beyond the stricken red head to where her usual group of friends was struggling to contain laughter. She raised on eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips in unspoken demand to know what was going on.

"Who would like to explain." She asked.

"Someone dared her to kiss Warren." Magenta said before moving toward her friend to try and bring her back to reality.

That really didn't explain why an obviously terrified student had come barging into her office babbling about murder, fire and brimstone. So she turned an expectant gaze to the rest of the group.

"He kissed her back." Will added helpfully.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. There was no carnage, so there was nothing she needed to do. She turned on her heel and gracefully returned to her office.

Once again seated behind her desk she smiled to herself. "I suppose I should be comforted." She mused to herself, "Even in the world of super heroes and super villains, where beyond strange was the normal; teenagers were still teenagers."


	2. Scene 2

Scene 2

The freshmen five sat in their usual booth at the Paper Lantern. It had become their custom to invade the cozy little restaurant every Friday night and wait for the most reclusive addition to their little group to get off work. He was not a freshman, so when anyone from their school spoke about their group and needed to include Warren, the group was referred to as the super six. Now if they were speaking of the two powerhouses of the group, Will and Warren, who were currently the undisputed, undefeated champions of Save the Citizen, they would say…well…Will and Warren.

But I digress in my tale; back to the Lantern.

Usually the topic of conversation at their cozy booth revolved around their weekend plans. But this week the freshmen five were noting that the atmosphere of the cozy little restaurant had changed slightly. There were fewer families thus fewer small children making a fuss and adding much volume to the ambient noise of the place. But the place was still packed; more so than usual.

It was Magenta with her astute people watching skills that noticed it first.

Ethan was a surprising second though if asked he would firmly deny it and state that he had no idea what you were talking about (his lie would be given away by the obvious blush and shy refusal to look you in the eye).

Zack, though happy with his current girlfriend, was always hyper aware of the opposite sex (looking out for his buddies is how he would explain it, you know, match making…) noticed it third, but was the first to awkwardly comment on it.

It was surprising that Will, as oblivious as he was to the world around him, wasn't the last to notice (he would tell you that Warren's people watching skills were rubbing off on him, but everyone knew it was actually Zack's girl hypersensitivity that he was unconsciously mimicking).

What was surprising was that Layla was clueless.

"Wow, dude, the chicks at the booth over there are total hotties." Zack stated with his usual tact; which is to say with none at all. This comment earned him a decidedly displeased glare from his girlfriend. "Not that I'm looking or nothin'." He quickly moved to assuage his temperamental girlfriend.

Magenta normally would take this opportunity to smack her boyfriend on the back of his head; she was still training him after all. But instead she chose use his ill-contemplated remarks to comment on her own observations.

"Has anyone else noticed that there are more of them recently?" she said.

"More of what?" Layla asked.

"Hot girls." Zack answered before thinking.

This time Magenta did take the opportunity to smack him.

"Yes, I had noticed a marked increase in the number of attractive female teenagers in the past few weeks." Ethan shyly added to the conversation.

At his comment Layla took a good look around her favorite restaurant that had come to mean so much more to her in the past few months. She noted that though many of the tables were filled by families, the majority of them were filled with teenaged girls; all twittering, gossiping, and now that she was aware of it, generally detracting from the usually calming effect of the restaurant.

"There are a lot of them." She said, noting how Will was trying to be subtile about flirting with the girls in the booth closest to them, and failing miserably on both accounts of subtlety and flirting.

"I think I know why there are so many of them." Magenta said after a minute of awkward silence as the group continued to observe their surroundings.

"So many of what?" Zack asked as he stole a dumpling from her plate.

"Girls" Magenta said, quickly becoming exasperated with him.

"What are you thinking?" Ethan asked, his curiosity in her thought process outweighing his shyness on the subject.

"I think they're Warren watching." Magenta said flatly.

"Warren watching?" Will asked. He hated Chinese food, but the atmosphere and the opportunity to spend time with his friends was worth it. It also helped that his best friend knew (and could intelligently communicate with) the cook. As a result, he was the only one with a good old fashioned cheese burger (at least that was what Warren insisted it was).

"Yes Warren watching." Magenta said. "Look at them when he comes out to clear the next table."

So the whole group practiced their "information gathering" skills and watched as the attention of every young (and some old) woman in the restaurant was drawn to the tall, dark, and handsome young man that gracefully made his way from the kitchen with a dish tub to the now empty table.

Will heard a stray giggle when Warren carelessly tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear. Layla saw and heard several sighs of…lust?...when his muscles flexed as he lifted the now full dish tub. Zack spastically scrubbed his eyes after following several young female's line of sight as his friend exited the dining room. Magenta helpfully smacked Zack on the back of the head for his immaturity.

"You know." Ethan said, "I think he's oblivious."

"It's not that he's oblivious, it's just that he really doesn't care." Magenta said before nibbling on another of her dumplings.

"No." Zack countered, "I think he's oblivious. No way any man could not care about that much womanly attention."

"I'm inclined to agree with Zack." Layla's statement was met with disbelieving stares. "Don't look at me like that." She demanded.

"What on earth would possess you to agree with Zack?" Magenta asked.

"Hey!" Zack objected indignantly.

"Only because in this instance, I think he is right." Layla said, "I think he really is oblivious to it all."

"They're right." Will added. Before anyone could ask him what his take on why Zack was right, he continued, "Just watch how he handles the tables."

So they once again turned their attention outward and observed as their friend returned from depositing the dirty dishes in the kitchen. He carried a pitcher of water in one hand and a couple of straws in the other. He walked right passed several tables filled with twittering girls, each one trying to catch his eye, yet he didn't even glance at them. The group of observing friends had come to recognize that walk. It was the same way he walked down the halls of their school; aware of all his surroundings but not acknowledging any living being that was beyond a three foot radius of his person. It was a walk that Layla came to equate with 'lost in thought' moments; where he completely tuned out the world except for the immediate necessities in order to focus on some deep question involving life, the universe and everything.

He quickly came to the waiting table. The girls that sat there, batted their eyes lustily at him and desperately tried to engage him in conversation in a ruse to keep him at their table longer. He flashed a polite smile, which to Layla looked more like a grimace, and filled their glasses without a word, placed the straws on the table and then turned and made his way to another table that required refills.

He eventually made his way to the table where they sat.

"So," Will said as Warren grabbed his glass to refill it. "You think the blond over there would go out with me?"

"Not a chance." Warren said without hesitation.

Will frowned, "Why not?" he asked.

"Because you're a dork." Warren said as he refilled Magenta's glass. "And I'm fairly certain she's been eyeing Popsicle."

"Me?" Ethan squeaked.

"Hey!" Will protested. "I'm less of a dork than Ethan is. No offense to you Ethan." Will quickly amended.

"None taken." Ethan said.

"Popsicle is a different kind of dork." Warren said as he replaced Layla's glass. "I have to go, I'll be back later." and he was off again.

"Different kind of dork?" Zack asked.

Layla and Magenta looked at the boys like they were beyond help. "Not the current topic of discussion." Magenta said, "That girl over there was most definitely not looking at you Ethan."

"So she is interested in me?" Will asked in a strange mixture of hopefulness and smugness.

"No." Magenta said without remorse.

"She was checking out Warren." Layla said, her voice tinted with jealous disapproval.

"Do you think he willfully ignores it?" Magenta asked. "I mean, Warren is ridiculously observant of everyone and everything around him. You'd think he'd pick up on something like this."

"No." Ethan said, "He puts so much effort, conscious and subconscious, into observing everything around him, that he has a blind spot where he is."

"So what do we do about it?" Zack asked.

"Nothing." Magenta said.

"Nothing?" Will asked.

"If it doesn't bother him then I say there is no need to enlighten him. You know what he was like after the whole cafeteria kiss thing." Magenta continued to voice her opinion.

"Paranoid beyond belief." Will answered.

"Never thought I'd see him so jumpy." Zack said.

"Remember how long it took to get him to start eating in the lunch room again?" Ethan asked.

Magenta had noticed that her usually mild mannered best friend was starting to get a tad bit...more out spoken...in the defense of her boyfriend of late. Personally she found it amusing. After all what girl wouldn't be a hare possessive if they managed to snag a guy like Warren. Seeing the look on her best friend's face, see knew that some unsuspecting girl was about to meet a sleeping monster...of a sort. Some small sadistic part of her was eagerly awaiting the one girl that would dare cross the line. And then she would gleefully watch from the sidelines as the usually mild mannered hippy flower power girl showed her teeth. It was usually something beyond hilarious; like the idea of a killer bunny rabbit...with teeth...

It wasn't long before Layla finally tuned back into the conversation. "It may not bother him, but it's starting to bother me." Layla said as she eyed yet another girl practically drooling as HER boyfriend refilled her water. "I have to go to the restroom."

With that she quickly got up and made her way to the well kept lady's room at the back of the restaurant, she was starting to feel a little queasy.

Warren had seen her get up from the table from where he was delivering orders to a family that sat closer to the door. He swiftly and efficiently placed their plates and extra napkins on their table and grabbed the tray and headed back to the kitchen area. On his way there he stopped at the table that his...friends...he was still having a hard time with that one...sat.

"What's wrong with the Hippy?" he asked.

"Nothing." Magenta quickly answered. Warren gave her a quick look that said he clearly didn't believe her.

"What ever." he said and continued on his way to the kitchen to retrieve the next order to be delivered to waiting customers.

Layla stood in front of the mirror in the lady's room and looked at her own reflection. She took a few deep breaths. She wasn't sure why she was so...possessive?...of Warren. They had only just begun to officially date. It had hurt when Will had started dating Gwen, she had thought that she was jealous of the attention he was lavishing on the other girl, but she hadn't felt like this.

The more time she spent with Warren, the more she learned that there was more to being IN love with someone than just having general affection for them and wanting to spend some time with them. There was a whole load of other emotions that came along for the ride. And she was quickly becoming acquainted with one she didn't really like...jealousy.

The rational side of her brain said that she had nothing to worry about. Warren obviously didn't care about the multitude of young women that practically threw themselves at him. Heck, he didn't even notice, and he was honestly horrified when things like this were pointed out to him. He had made it quite clear to everyone at school that he was partial to her presence, and only her presence. As far as she knew, she was the only one that he actively sought out on a regular basis.

But the irrational side of her brain screamed MINE! Something that had never happened when she was dating Will. She was usually a very easy going, mellow, nonviolent person. But she really wanted to hurt those girls for daring to encroach on her territory...

That was it. She was being territorial. Finally a rational explanation for her sudden violent thoughts.

Right?

What ever. She had nothing to worry about. She had to keep reminding herself of that. Warren liked her and could care less about other girls and any attention they wanted to lavish upon him. A picture of one of the overly attentive girls in the restaurant with burnt hair flashed through her mind, she smiled. She looked at herself in the mirror once again and nodded. She was about to turn to leave when some of the girls walked in giggling and bubbling in their distinct air headed way.

She quickly ducked into one of the stalls and locked it.

"He is such a hunk!" one of them said in a high pitched nasally tone.

"He's so totally into you Margery." Another said in complete adoration of said girl.

"Yah, like, did you see they way he filled you glass? It was like totally fate. He's probably, like, totally gonna ask you out." another said.

"Ladies," the girl that was obviously their 'leader' said. "Let's not get a head of ourselves. I think he's the shy type. So I'll have to ask him, even though he obviously wants to ask me out."

This statement made the murderous thoughts surge in Layla, as well as make her gag.

"What if he says no?" one of them said. Layla thought it may have been the first girl to speak.

"Don't be ridiculous!" The leader girl chided. "I'm irresistible. No guy has ever said no to me. Especially when I use my look."

Were these girls supers? Layla thought. No they couldn't be...could they?

"So when are you going to ask him?" one of the girls asked.

"The next time he comes to the table of course." the girl said.

Oh that was so not going to happen.

The group of girls continued to gossip as they walked out of the restroom, their business concluded apparently. Layla unlocked her stall and left as well. Her mind occupied with running through scenarios where she could make it clear to those girls that Warren was not available. She smiled as she settled on her favorite, and moved with new purpose down the hallway back to the dining area.

Magenta was the first to pick up on the mood change in her friend. Actually she was the only one, though she suspected that Ethan at least picked up that something in the balance of good and evil had shifted. She saw the evil gleam to her friend's eye, and the smile that was more of a smirk. She knew her friend was up to something, and she knew it would end up being highly entertaining. Especially if the conversation at the booth just behind her had anything to do with it.

Layla for her part calmly returned to the table with her friends and took her seat with smirk firmly in place, that is until she overheard the girls from the bathroom continuing their conversation at the table behind her. She narrowed her eyes; homicidal feeling was back. She would have to put her plan into action sooner than she had wanted.

Instead of rejoining the conversation, she studiously looked for her opening. The boys began to notice that something wasn't quite right. Ethan immediately took his queues from Magenta. Will and Zack shared a clueless look before Will wordlessly asked Ethan what was going on. Ethan just gestured toward Layla. Will seeing the murderously plotting glint to Layla's eyes, subtly waived Zack into silence before he could open his big mouth and ruin everything. The group watched in fascination as Layla poised herself on the edge of her seat, like a lioness stalking her prey.

Warren unsuspectingly approached the tables. He carried a pitcher of water in one hand and a cleaning cloth was tossed over his shoulder. His long hair was pulled back, revealing his sculpted face, tanned skin glinting in the restaurant lighting.

"Here he comes." one of the girls twittered. It was probably a good thing that Layla's back was to the table so she couldn't see the other girl adjusting herself and her shirt.

He stopped by the elderly couple that was to the right, refilling their glasses and asking them if they required anything else. Upon their decline, he turned to continue on. Layla saw her opening...

and pounced.

"Snookums." She said in her sweetest voice as he passed their table.

The lightbulb finally went off in Zack's head.

The girls at the table froze.

Warren stopped dead in his tracks and closed his eyes, a grimace firmly in place on his face.

The rest of the patrons seemed to gather that something was about to happen. The atmosphere was tense and silent.

"My cutie pie sweet heart you forgot something." Layla said.

Warren was a smart guy...way smarter than anyone would give him credit with just looking at him. So it was no surprise that he realized that something was going on. Layla just didn't call him names. In fact the only other time that she had used this particular combination of ridiculous monickers was the cafeteria incident. But that particular incident had quite effectively quashed the most obnoxious part of going to school...groupies. But this was work. He didn't have any groupies. The closest thing was Lyn Ling, but she didn't count because she was 10 and Mrs. Chang's granddaughter. Not to mention she wasn't even helping at the restaurant tonight. So by his logic, there was no reason for such a scene. So either:

1. His girlfriend...hummm...he liked that. It almost brought a small quirk to his lips that could be considered a smile...if you liked to stretch the truth. Back to the matter at hand. Either his girlfriend was going crazy...

2. His girlfriend (again the slight quirk to the lips) had been put up to some sort of dare by the rest of the...troublesome...teens that insisted on following him around like lost puppies...yuck...he was so not a dog person...

or 3. His girlfriend (he really was beginning to like the sound of that) saw some sort of threat...

That last thought put him on edge. If the normally placid hippy saw a threat then there was something serious afoot. So it was with resigned and guarded trepidation that he turned to face her.

Once again he didn't have time to question her disgusting combination of words in association with him. He barely had the presence of mind to keep hold of the pitcher of water in his hand before she was playing full court tonsil hockey with him. Not that he minded. There was a little voice in the back of his head that really wished that they did this more often...

He finally got his brane working again and realized that he was still at work...and everyone was staring at them. As much as he was enjoying the kiss, he quickly pushed her away.

"Layla you can't..." she didn't let him finish before she occupied his lips differently.

Again he overcame his desire to just enjoy her lips on his and he pushed her away again.

"Will you stop that?" he half whispered at her trying not to call any more attention to them. But really it was pointless. They were the center of attention, there wasn't a table in the restaurant that wasn't completely enthralled with the scene they were making. He expected Mrs. Chang to start yelling at him, possibly fire him any second now.

But the silence remained.

"Sorry." Layla practically gushed. "I was just thinking about the roses you gave me the other day and I just couldn't help myself."

Roses? He didn't give her any...wait...she must be talking about the mini rose plant that he had given her. It was actually a rescue operation. Sue Mae had bought the thing thinking that it was quote "the cutest thing ever" and had put it by the cash register and then promptly forgot that it was a plant and needed water. He figured that the hippy would be able to revive the thing.

But really...what the hell?

Then he glanced behind her to see Magenta practically exploding with laughter as she helped him out by jerking her thumb toward the table just to the left of her. The table that he had been headed toward to refill their water after the elderly couple.

They all looked stricken, except for the one that looked she needed to reevaluate what size clothes she wore...she looked positively livid.

As was previously stated; Warren was a pretty smart cookie (not to mention a good looking one, and only Layla really knew how good he tasted...get your head out of the gutter!)

He quickly put the whole scene together and compared it to the last similar situation he found himself in.

"Public display of affection?" he asked hoping that there was a marginally sane reason for this insanity.

"Yup." she answered a little too cheerily.

With that he shrugged and just as before, proceeded to kiss her till her legs were jelly. Then abruptly let her go so that he could gather his things from the break room. As much as Mrs. Chang liked having him work here, and as much as she was like his Aunt, there was no way she was going to let him work here after that.

Layla for her part was beyond dazed. Magenta had to actually get up and physically guide her back to their table. The rest of the gang were trying valiantly not to roll on the floor laughing their heads off.

The girl from the bathroom was having trouble processing the situation. Layla snapped out of her daze the second she saw the girl. Her evil smirk returned so fast that Magenta was wondering if she needed to be worried about her friend. Layla shrugged off her friend's help and sauntered...SAUNTERED...over to the table.

"Yup...that's right," she said her attitude was borderline cocky, but most definitely smug. "He's MY boyfriend and he's smart. So you can go find yourself some other sucker to seduce. Oh and you and your little..." she paused trying to think of an appropriate word for her followers..."gaggle can go find somewhere else to eat and someone else's boyfriend to drool over." Hanging out with Warren so much had made her immune to his death glares, but also had the side effect of her subconsciously adding them into her rare glare.

She took the opportunity to glare at each girl in turn before she stood to her whole hight. She turned and purposefully gave the same warning glare to each of the numerous tables filled with gaping girls. Then she carelessly took her seat.

"Possessive much?" Will asked barely holding in a snort of laughter. She snatched up one of Ethan's shrimp tempura and threw it at him.

Mrs. Chang watched quietly from the entrance to the kitchen. Contrary to what Warren was thinking, she was elated. Yes her restaurant was packed. But it was packed with a bunch of teenage girls that would order miso soup and then sit at their tables for hours watching the young man that she secretly thought of as a grandson. She was losing business and she was thoroughly annoyed. Not a good combination. She was about ready to ask him to take a few days off, and then start helping Ling Pu in the kitchen for the rest of his high school years.

She thought the red head was good for him, and he was good for her. However that didn't mean that she had to make her approval of the match public knowledge.

She slipped back to the break room where she knew Warren had retreated to.

** "Just where do you think you're going?" ** she questioned sharply in Mandarin.

**"Um...home."** Warren said sullenly.

** "Good"** Mrs. Chang said, ** "You need break. You go home and you take that girl out tomorrow, and you come back to work Monday."** she demanded in her typical abrupt manner.

Warren closed his eyes and shook his head briefly trying to process what the woman had just said. He didn't get a chance to say anything as she practically pushed him out the door. She smiled smugly to herself, yes, her plans were working perfectly...

After a moment of reveling in the success of her match making plans, she returned to the immediate situation. She shouted to Ling Pu on her way back toward the kitchen.

Back in the dining room, the gang was trying desperately to clamp down on their amusement or incur the not often seen wrath of their very own flower girl. The table of girls had left in a huff. The other tables of stunned and disappointed teenaged girls were slowly and quietly asking for their checks and leaving. Just as Zack was about to burst; there was a sound from a far corner.

A regular family, that had been bothered by the sudden change of atmosphere at their favorite restaurant, began applauding. Not only had the whole scene been extremely entertaining (dinner and a show...), but the girl had practically guaranteed that the masses of fluttering teenage girls would find another location to ruin with their twittery giggling and loitering. The other families followed suit of the first, and soon there was a roaring applause.

Layla's anger was quickly replaced with sheepish embarrassment, and she took great interest in what was left of her vegetarian fried rice. Of course this applause only caused the amusement meter for the rest of the gang to burst. Will quickly excused himself and dragged Zack with him to, ostensibly to use the restroom, but really it was so that they could double over laughing for five minutes with out garnering the disapproval of all the remaining customers, rekindling the now dormant wrath of the red head, or being kicked out by the feisty owner.

Mrs. Chang reentered the dining room of her restaurant and was only minimally surprised to find her regulars heartily applauding. She quickly made her way to the table where her (for all intents and purposes) nephew's friends (not that he had ever referred to them as such in her company, but she was a smart woman...).

"For you." she said as she placed a tray of powdered sugar coated banana dumplings on the table. "On house." she said. Then she looked Layla strait in the eye, and if Layla had been paying attention, she would have seen the mischievous glint to the old woman's eye. "You keep girls away from wa da Xing and I make you meal free now on." she said in a mix of her broken English and her Mandarin.

Then with her knowing smile she left. Magenta shared a confused glance with her best friend; what was wadaxing?

They both shrugged and reached for one of the tasty banana dumplings.


	3. Scene 3

The new guy.

Every school got one.

The guy that moves into the school district in the middle of the year. In the case of Sky High, it was a first generation super that just got their powers.

After Homecoming Will and Layla unofficially became the freshmen class representatives. Of course officially there was the student counsel, but they usually nominated either Will or Layla for what ever came up. So when the new kid showed up, escorted by his parents, Will was called into the principle's office.

"Good morning Mrs. Sorapinski." Will said to the secretary as he walked into the main office.

"Ah, Mr. Stronghold." Mrs. Sorapinski said when she looked up from her papers. "I need you to show Mr. Torentino around the school, he's a new student here, Mr. Boomer has placed him on the Hero track."

"Will do Mrs. Sorapinski." Will said as he smiled at her and then turned to the new student.

Lionel Torentino wasn't anything to write home about. He was of average build, with average brown hair, average brown eyes, average nose and average smile. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about him.

"Hi, my name's Will." Will introduced himself, extending his hand.

The young man stood from the plastic chair he had been sitting in. If it were anyone other than Will, it would be clear that the young man thought of himself as anything but average. He stood as tall as he could and puffed out his chest, making himself look bigger than he was.

"Lionel." He said with some distain evident in his voice.

"Great!" Will said, totally missing the other teen's posturing. "I'll show around the school and to your first class. Right now is first lunch." Will looked at the schedule that the secretary had handed him. "You have second lunch, same as me and my friends. You can sit with us if you want."

Will headed for the door with Lionel reluctantly following.

"So," Will said with his usual ease, "What's your power?"

"I have two." Lionel said haughtily with emphasis on the I.

"Really?" Will said with enthusiasm, "I do too. I have super strength and I can fly."

Lionel frowned, his powers weren't that impressive. "I'm a chameleon and can flatten myself into a 2 dimensional plane." He reluctantly explained. What he didn't explain was that he could only switch between two colors, and one of those was bright pink, and that he couldn't get any flatter than three inches.

"Cool." Will said. "Not sure if anyone explained how this school works or not, but the basics are there is the Hero track, which Mrs. Sorapinski said you were on, and there is the Hero Support track. Rumor is that next year things are going to change which will be pretty awesome, 'cuz then I'll be able to have some same classes as my friends."

"You have friends on the Side Kick track?" Lionel asked distain still in his tone.

"Hero Support." Will gently corrected. "Yup. I was on the Hero Support track for a bit before I got my powers."

"You mean you were here at the school before you got your powers?" Lionel asked.

"Yup." Will said as they approached the Mad Science lab. "Both my parents are Heroes, so they kind of assumed that I would be too, so they signed me up."

"Both your parents?" Lionel was clearly unbelieving.

"This is the Mad Science lab." Will said, oblivious to Lionel's disbelief. "Mr. Madula is a super genious, but he's a bit crazy. If you don't study for any other class, this is the one you'll want to study for 'cuz he'll make you test your homework on yourself."

Lionel obviously didn't understand the magnitude of that statement, but he would soon learn.

They continued on their way down the hall as Will pointed out other classrooms that would be important for the other teen to remember. The two teens were nearing the lunch room when the bell range, signaling the end of the first lunch period and the 5 minute passing time before the second lunch period.

"This is the lunch room. It's pretty standard but the lunch line has some interesting stuff on it. Apparently some people's powers cause them to need some interesting stuff. But the food is usually really good, Mrs. Potluck is a really good cook, and she's really friendly. Did you bring your lunch today or were you going to buy?"

"I brought my lunch." Lionel sniffed.

"Come on, our table is over here." Will said as he moved to the super six's usual table.

Will continued to explain the nuances of Sky High life as he pulled out his sack lunch, oblivious to Lionel inspecting the lunch table. He finally sat upon coming to the conclusion that every table would be the same dirty sticky tables that you found in every school lunchroom.

Zack and Ethan were the first to join them.

"Dude, I'm telling you the silver tipped cross bow is a way cooler weapon to kill a werewolf with than the silver slugs." Zack said as he sat down across from Will and right next to Lionel. It was all Lionel could do to hide his grimace at the proximity of the lanky teen dressed from head to toe in tacky neon yellow.

"Maybe," Ethan said sitting next to Will, "But it is less effective. It takes approximately 5.23 seconds to reload the crossbow where as a gun is ready to re-fire immediately, not to mention the superior range and accuracy."

"But the cross bow looks cooler." Zack insisted.

"Guys this is Lionel." Will interrupted their argument.

"Dude. The name's Zack." Zack said in his poor imitation of gangster greeting.

"Ethan." Ethan introduced himself in a more civilized manner.

"Lionel." Lionel said curtly. He was clearly displeased by their presence.

"You new here?" Zack asked.

"Yes." Was all Lionel said wishing that they would leave him alone.

"Cool man. What are your powers?" Zack asked.

"I am a chameleon and I can flatten my body to blend with any two dimensional surface." Trying to make himself sound more intelligent.

"Way cool man." Zack said, "So I guess that means you're on the Hero track then."

"Yes," Lionel said, "I take it you are not."

"Nope. Hero Support. I glow." Zack said proudly.

"And I melt." Ethan added.

"Melt?" Lionel asked.

"Into an amorphous puddle of polymerized organic material." Ethan said before biting into his sandwich.

Lionel pretended like he understood that.

"There's Layla and Magenta." Will said as he waved to them.

Lionel followed Will's line of sight, and his world froze. There coming toward him was a read headed angel. Everything but her faded away, heavenly music played, a breeze wafted through the room to play with her hair.

He was in love.

"Hey Will, Zack, Ethan." Layla said as she and Magenta reached the table.

"Did you do number 12 on the Super Support Chemistry homework Ethan?" Magenta asked as she sat between Zack and Lionel. Layla sat on the other side of the table next to Will

Lionel completely tuned her out as Will interrupted Ethan and Magenta before they could get too far into the homework problems to introduce Lionel. All that existed, or mattered to Lionel at this point was finding out who the angel sitting across from him was.

"Layla, Magenta," Will said, "This is Lionel he's new and on the Hero track."

"Nice to meet you." Magenta said quickly before turning back to Ethan expectantly.

"Hi." Layla greeted.

"Hello." Lionel said in his best 'I'm a hunk and you want me' voice. He contorted his face in what he deemed was his most handsome and flirtatious smirk.

Magenta stopped her conversation with Ethan to look at Lionel, eyebrow raised. Layla and Will looked like they didn't quite know how to respond to his tone. Ethan picked up that something wasn't quite right and Zack was clueless.

Rather than trying to figure out how to respond to the new kid's interest, Layla asked "Where's Warren?"

Will grimaced, "I thought I saw him in the main office when I went to pick up Lionel."

"What did he do?" Layla asked worriedly.

"He didn't do anything."

The entire table jumped at the sudden answer from the person in question. He just rolled his eyes and rifled through his bag as he sat down next to Layla. He pulled out a plastic container filled with sushi and his current book.

"Your mom out of town again?" Layla asked noting the sushi. The first time he brought some variation of sushi or dumplings for lunch for two weeks straight the gang had asked him about it. His answer had been that his mother was on a mission. Further investigation on Layla's part brought to light that Mrs. Chang, his boss, was always fretting about the amount and quality of food that he ate (or didn't eat) and insisted on providing three meals a day for him when his mother was "out of town."

"So," Lionel said in his best seductive voice, not giving Warren an opportunity to answer her question; not that he would have anyway she had asked a second too late, he had his book open and he was reading. "Layla," he paused trying to pull her attention away from the rather intimidating teen in black next to her. "What are your powers? Super beauty?"

Warren was absorbed in his book and thus had tuned out the words of the conversation around him, but he did hear the tone in the new kid's voice, and though he didn't comment, he did frown a bit.

Conversation between the rest of the gang stopped.

Layla not wanting to be mean gave him her typical friendly smile as she dug her salad out of her bag. "Oh, nothing huge, I'm Hero Support."

"Oh, well I'm on the Hero track." Lionel said with all the self absorbed importance he could muster. "But that doesn't matter to me. Maybe you could support this hero and show me around to my classes after lunch?"

"Layla and I have to get to the Library to finish our research on heroines of the 19th century for Hero Support History." Magenta answered for her.

So it began.

The next week of school consisted of Layla trying to be nice but also trying to avoid an overly interested and sweet in a slightly creepy way Lionel. Lionel took her avoidance as a sign of interest, but playing hard to get. When Lionel told Will of his intentions to woo the angel of his dreams, Will explained that she had a boyfriend. Lionel heard that part, but didn't hear the description of who the boyfriend was, as the subject of his amorous attentions walked by and waved at them.

Layla, being the sweet tempered person that she was, was in a pickle. She didn't want the new kid to get hurt. Which was certain to happen if she voiced her frustrations to her boyfriend, and was certain to happen if she confronted Lionel about his unwanted attention. It was this conversation that caused her and Magenta to be late to lunch on Friday.

Lionel decided that the opportunity to sit with his red headed angel was worth the indignity of sitting with such low lives as Sidekicks. And so he arrogantly sat down at the super six's table across from Will. He paid no mind to the other three boys that also sat at the table. As the two of them had particularly useless powers and the other didn't speak or interact enough for him to be even noticeable. The thought briefly flitted through Lionel's brain that he didn't even know what the other kid's powers were, but Lionel assumed that they were just as useless. It was apparent (to him anyway) that he and Will were the only ones at the table that were heroes.

"So," Lionel said as soon as he sat down. "Will, I need you to point out who this supposed boyfriend of Layla's is so that I can tell him to take a hike."

Will's jaw dropped and his mind froze in panic.

Warren hadn't opened his book yet; had yet to tune out all ambient conversation. Warren not only heard but consciously processed the words that escaped Lionel's mouth.

"How exactly would you tell this boyfriend to 'take a hike'?" Warren asked in a falsely curious tone.

Will, Ethan, and Zack were frantically trying to get Lionel's attention to get the point across to him that he needed to not respond to that question. Will was wondering if his near invulnerability would keep him from being burnt to a crisp if he held Warren back. He was also wondering if he could fly fast enough to get Warren out of the lunch room before he went 'hellfire and brimstone' on the poor unsuspecting and completely delusional (though Will had yet to attribute that last one to the other teen) teen sitting across from them.

Lionel may have been self absorbed, and smitten, and not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. But there was no way he could miss the way the entire lunch room went quiet at his first question, and sucked in a collective breath at the other teen's question. He had no idea why the hair was running away from the back of his neck screaming. The guy was just a sidekick that didn't talk and read all the time…right?

"What's it to you?" Lionel said after gathering the tatters of his bravado.

"Hey guys!" Layla interrupted the pending homicide.

"Warren you promised not to barbeque the new students." She said after taking her usual seat next to him and noticed his raised body temperature. Pretending not to notice the tension in the room, she asked "So, what were you guys talking about?"

"About how I was intending to ask you to join me at the movies tomorrow." Lionel said before anyone else could answer. Once again everything else had faded to the background when his angel had appeared.

"Look," Layla said, "I appreciate your consideration, but I do have a boyfriend."

"Oh my beautiful darling," Lionel said in his schmoozy voice. "I appreciate you playing hard to get, but really you don't have to fabricate a boyfriend, give me a chance and I'll be the only man you need in your life." Her undivided attention had given him all the bravery he needed to say that. (He had been practicing it in the mirror since Monday)

Layla grabbed for Warren's hand under the table as soon as Lionel opened his mouth, hoping to stop him from powering up. She knew he wouldn't hurt her.

But that didn't stop Warren. Instead he powered up his other hand and, his fury pushing the temperature to degrees that the school had never witnessed before. Poor Lionel didn't see it coming. He was a pile of ash before anyone could blink. The spot on the bench where he had been sitting was dripping slag.

…

At least that is what was flashing through Layla's mind as she tightened her hold on Warren's warm hand. Instead of having to manage a disaster and seek out advice on how to have a relationship with a man in prison form his mother; her world was turned upside down.

"You know why everyone at this school is terrified of me?" Warren asked in an eerily calm voice.

"N-n-no." Lionel finally had the sense to be concerned about the situation.

"I've been told that I'm just like my father. Do you have any idea who he could be?" Warren asked in the same calm voice.

"N-n-no." Lionel stammered out again.

"His working name is Flash Point; heard of him?" This time his voice had a clear edge to it.

Once again all Lionel could do was shrink back a little more and stammer out "No."

"Too bad." Warren said, "Have flyboy here explain to you why he's currently serving 3 life sentences in solitary confinement in Maxville high security prison for super beings."

Lionel paled a bit. He didn't know much about the super world yet, but Flash Point was infamous.

"And I'm assuming that you've heard of Susaekmyo, she's my mother. I'm fairly certain that everyone knows you don't piss her off either."

Then everyone present was treated to the shock of Warren, the ultimate unapproachable, fry you first don't even bother to ask questions, bad boy of Sky High…actually INITIATING a very intimate kiss with his girlfriend.

For sure it wasn't anything R rated, but Layla sure couldn't have described it to you afterward, she wasn't able to think straight for an hour after.

After thoroughly enjoying a nice kiss with his girlfriend he pulled away and looked directly into Lionel's eyes.

"You should figure out who the competition is before you go making statements like that. You never know who your going to piss off." Despite the calm face and tone, there was a threat that not even Will or Zack at their densest could miss.

Then Warren got up and left.

Lionel was left mouth agape and sweating buckets.

"Dude, just in case you didn't get it." Zack said after a few seconds of watching Lionel gape like a fish. "Warren is her boyfriend and he's not someone you want to mess with."

"And apparently he's a really good kisser." Magenta added.


	4. How it really started

How it really started…

Valentine's Day was supposed to be a romantic holiday. How could it not be with all the chocolates and hearts and candies and cupid and candle lit dinners for two…

Yah, that's the thing, it's a holiday for two, and if there isn't a two to your one, the day just kind of sucks. That is if you even acknowledge it.

This year the school activities committee decided that a Valentine's Day dance was in order, you know because Homecoming turned out so…messy…and then there was the Winter Social fiasco…

Any way

The Valentine's Day dance was supposed to make up for all the hostile take over events. After all, Valentine's Day was supposed to be about the antithesis of hostile takeovers.

And just like there was supposed to be a Homecoming and Winter Social king and queen; it was decided that there would be a Valentine's Day king and queen. A perfect couple sort of thing, you know all lovey dovey stuff.

The committee decided that there needed to be a strict set of criteria for the nominees for this illustrious position. The candidates had to be:

1. Nominated by their peers

2. The embodiment of a set of certain qualities: kind, giving, selfless, attractive to a certain percentage of the opposite sex

3. And just to throw in a tad bit of teenage controversy, their kiss had to score above a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being the worst and 10 being knock you into the next world of a neighboring dimension good. Of course when Principle Powers saw this she insisted that the only permissible evidence of this would be the testimony of a previous incident. She was not about to have a kissing booth in her school.

The dance was announced after the students returned from the holiday break, and the criteria for king and queen were listed. Nominations would be taken on the Feb 3rd, and voting would begin on the 10th.

Warren of course paid as much attention to the dance announcements and the king and queen nominations as he did to the newest volume of Vorgon Poetry; that is to say he avoided the subject like the plague.

At least he would have had a group of freshmen not insisted on incessantly chattering about it at lunch and whenever they managed to corner him outside of school. It was getting to the point where he was seriously contemplating begging for detention during lunch hour just to get away from the complete horror of all the love sick teenage behavior.

But unfortunately for him, he wasn't as blackened and charred on the inside as he wanted everyone to believe, and a certain red head knew it. She also knew that if she asked a certain way he would endure the torture that was commonly referred to as lunch hour.

As it happened the week of the dance almost all charm for the idea had fled the little group of friends. Will and Layla had broken up on the mutual decision that they were way better as friends than as a couple. Zack and Magenta were off again. Ethan was currently in a dateless rut and Warren, well Warren could have cared less about the stupid holiday. Except for the chocolate, he was actually rather fond of the chocolate, but he was keeping that to himself.

So it was by unanimous consensus that they would boycott the dance and spend that particular Friday night like they had spent countless others since homecoming…at the Lantern, waiting for Warren to get off shift, and then catching the latest movie at the Cineplex, you know, NORMAL teenage stuff.

That was until February 3rd.

There was a table in the school cafeteria, a table that was once unofficially reserved for one student and one student only. Now five other students decided they were brave enough to sit there too. Warren continued to sit there, but if you were to ask him why, if he actually deigned to answer instead of BBQing you, he would tell you it was his OCD that refused to allow him to pick another table, NOT that he actually didn't mind the five freshman's presence.

But that's beside the point.

Layla, Magenta, Zack and Ethan were already seated and discussing the more innocuous points of their Hero History quiz when Will hurriedly rushed in and sat down.

"We have a problem." He said in nervous excitement.

"What?" Layla asked concerned for her friend.

"Someone nominated me for the Valentine's Day dance king." Will said.

""What?" Magenta asked.

"Who would do that?" Ethan asked.

"Don't know, but because I was nominated," Will said trailing off.

"Dude that sucks." Zack said.

"That means you have to go." Layla said dejectedly realizing that their Friday night plans were now shot. Then she blinked as a new thought came to mind and she smiled a rather devious smile.

"Anyone want to explain why the hippy is impersonating a villain with a new world domination plan?" Warren asked flatly.

The Freshmen Five all jumped. None of them were sure they would ever get used to the pyro's stealthiness.

"No idea why." Magenta was the first to recover. "But Will was nominated for king."

"Sucks to be you." Warren said as he opened his book.

"And he's gone." Will commented.

"So how is this a problem?" Ethan asked.

"Because it means we have to go to the dance." Will said.

"No," Magenta corrected him, "It means you have to go to the dance."

"You guys wouldn't leave me hanging?" Will plead, "Would you?"

"No we wouldn't but that's not the issue." Layla said as she glanced at each of them and received a reluctant and grudging confirmation that they would all show; except for Warren who was studiously ignoring them in favor of his new book.

"Then what is the issue?" Zack asked.

Magenta's eyes went wide as she finally got it. "Seriously?" She half laughed as she asked Layla to confirm her suspicion.

"The nominees have to have their kiss rated." Layla said.

There was a moment of silence as the gang processed the predicament. Then they all burst out laughing; well Ethan, Zack and Magenta did. Layla just smiled and Warren continued to ignore them.

"Guys it's not funny." Will whined. "There are only two people eligible to judge my kiss. One is in jail, and I highly doubt she would be willing to give an accurate score…"

"And the other hasn't kissed anyone else." Magenta finished for him.

"Why does it matter anyway?" Layla asked as she scowled at her friend.

"Because my parents are going to find out." Will said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Zack asked.

"Dude, you know how my dad is." Will said, "You know if I got nominated and didn't win he'd never leave it alone."

"And then he'd blame it all on Coach Boomer." Zack said with a smile.

"See you do understand." Will said.

"Why wouldn't you win?" Ethan asked.

"Because there isn't a big enough pool of kiss raters who's opinions aren't skewed." Magenta said.

Both Will and Layla frowned at her.

"What do you mean by that?" Layla asked.

"Just what I said." Magenta said in her 'well duh' voice. "Gwen, or should I say Sue, is so wrapped up in her revenge mode that she would give him a 1 just to spite him. And you have only ever kissed Will so you have no basis for a competent comparison for rating."

"So you see my problem." Will said, finally relieved that someone understood the full depth of the problem.

"As I said," Layla said indignantly, "Why does it matter?"

"So now the question is;" Will said, "How do we fix the problem?"

"According to the rules you aren't aloud to solicit kisses to bolster your score." Magenta said, completely ignoring her friend.

"Exactly," Will said, "So how do we fix this?"

Magenta thought for a minute. The longer she thought the sharper the evil glint in her eyes became. She refrained from letting an evil smirk twist her lips; not wanting to give away her plan.

"No one ever said that the raters couldn't increase their experience pool." She said, employing a will of steel to not let her face get the better of her.

This comment earned her looks of confusion and incredulity from all but one of the table's occupants.

"What are you trying to say?" Layla asked cautiously.

"You could kiss someone else." Magenta said, hoping that Will would pick up on her train of thought. And just to help his thoughts jump on that train, she not so subtly kicked him as hard as she could under the table and very subtly directed his attention to the resident flame thrower.

Will's eyes got very large when he caught her point.

"I'm NOT going to go around kissing random boys just so I can give Will a reasonable rating." Layla said in a vehement strangled whisper/shout.

"Relax." Will said, "You don't have to go around kissing random boys. I wouldn't want you to do that not for this. Maybe if my life depended on it…"

Layla gave him a very formidable imitation of Warren's patent pending death glare.

"Really, I think one guy would do." Magenta said, this time she did smirk.

"Oh really." Layla said, not liking the direction the conversation had turned. "And who do you suggest?" sarcasm was dripping from her tone.

Will gave a minute shrug. "Why not Warren?"

Magenta smiled triumphantly. Everyone else's eyes bulged, and were of the same mind on the decision to commit him to a mental institution.

"What?" Warren asked thoroughly lost. He of course had not been paying conscious attention to the conversation. But hearing his name had nabbed his attention.

"Nothing Warren." Layla said, "They're just being stupid. Go back to your book."

Warren narrowed his eyes and passed an evaluating glance over each of the table's occupants. Seeing the astonished and horrified looks on Ethan and Zack's faces combined with the manic grin on Will's and the satisfied smirk that graced Magenta's; he shrugged, shook his head at their antics and did as Layla suggested. He was not giving in to an order, it was a suggestion, one that he would have done anyway had she not said anything…

Before he could refocus his full attention on the wonders of String Theory (yes the physics paradigm, not a knitting theory book, geesh, hot athletic guys can have a brain too you know…) Will quickly spoke up.

"You and Layla need to kiss." He stated as if he were commenting on the weather.

Warren closed his eyes for half a second, "Excuse me?" he asked not totally sure he had heard what he thought he heard.

"So that she can have something to compare Will's kisses to when she rates him for King." Magenta explained, also as if she were commenting on the rather boring weather.

The had quickly figured out that when they spoke all rushed and excited like yippy little Chihuahuas (as Warren described most teenaged conversations) that he would ignore them and refuse to take part in their conversation, no matter how interesting it got. He would also leave the table sooner.

Layla found herself inexplicably excited at the prospect of kissing the reclusive pyro. But she was never going to admit that. Never mind that the first thought that had entered her mind when Will brought up the dilemma was that she now had a perfect excuse to try and talk said pyro into going to the dance with her. No, she had to keep up the appearance of being completely offended about being treated as a prize in a carnival game.

"I am not kissing Warren." She said emphatically.

Warren was about to emphatically refuse to kiss Layla. But he was a boy. And boys do have egos, whether they want to admit that or not. "Why not?" he asked, managing to not sound too offended at her quick and adamant refusal to the proposal.

"Why not?" Layla asked now hyper sensitive to the fact that everyone's attention was riveted on her. "Why not?...Because…because you're my friend." She said her voice shakey and higher in octave than she wanted. "Not only are you my friend, but you're my ex-boyfriend's best friend. I'm not going to kiss you." Now thoroughly uncomfortable and no better reason for her refusal she quickly gathered her things and left the lunchroom.

This was met with raised eyebrows the table round.

Warren, not sure if he should be offended or not, and not having any inkling of how a normal teen would handle this particular interaction, just shrugged off the antics of the five freshmen and returned to his book.

"And we lost him again." Will said.

"That went well, wouldn't you say?" Magenta said.

"Could have been better." Will answered.

"So, dude." Zack said, "you really want them to kiss?"

"Zack my man," Will said trying to sound sagely, "I may not be the smartest person in the world…" this earned a highly amused snort and half choke from Magenta, which got a glare from him. "But one thing I did manage to figure out relatively quickly, was that those two are made for each other."

"Sole mates." Magenta added, "If you believe in that sort of thing."

"How do you figure that?" Ethan finally contributed to the conversation, "We've only been on the no fry list for a few months."

"Some times these things are just obvious." Will said still trying to sound like the wise old man at the top of the highest mountain in Shangri-La.

His comment was met with eye roles and the conversation turned to safer and more mundane things until the bell rang.

February 4th passed innocuously, as though the conversation at lunch on the 3rd had never happened. Though those who were paying attention would have noted Layla's increased agitation.

The 5th brought on a hushed conversation in the girls locker room just before 'Save the Citizen'.

"Do you really think that I can't give a proper rating with out kissing someone else?" Layla asked. She had been stewing over the conversation for a full day and a half now.

"Not only do you desperately need to gain some more experience in the area; but if you kiss Warren the rating will have that much more weight to it." Magenta explained deviously.

"Why would kissing Warren add weight to my rating?" Layla asked.

"Because," Magenta said as if it should be obvious. "Half the school still thinks they're arch enemies, and the other half understands that they are by some strange miracle, best friends."

"Still don't understand why that makes a difference." Layla said while changing her socks.

"A guys best friend, or arch enemy is like the ultimate thing to be compared to." Magenta tried to explain. "Like if we compared you to Marry Sue, no one would care, because Marry Sue is just some random girl that no one knows or likes. But if we compared you to me, that would get some thought and comments, because people know us, they know our relationship as best friends. And for some twisted reason that makes all the difference in the world."

"So even if Will only has one person to rate his kiss, if I kissed Warren and the whole school knew, and knew that I was comparing them, that would mean…" Layla said.

"That would be the equivalent to 100 girls rating Wills kiss." Magenta finished as she pulled on her gym shoes.

"Why can't I just say I kissed Warren and not really do it." Layla said.

Magenta looked at her in that sad condescending way, "One, because no one here would believe you unless they saw it. Two, how can you seriously not want to kiss him? I mean, if I knew he wouldn't flay me alive if I tried, I would totally go for it; they guy is hot, and not I'm not talking about his core temperature."

"But he's my friend." Layla said as they made their way to the gym doors. "I don't want anything weird between us."

"There's nothing weird between you and Will." Magenta pointed out.

"That's because we've known each other since kindergarten." Layla said.

"Seriously Layla," Magenta said, "What are you afraid of? You know he'd never hurt you."

Layla pursed her lips and continued to give the matter more thought through the rest of the day.

Most days Will was about as dense as his father. But some days, he knew when not to press an issue. And that is why the boy's locker room was devoid of the Layla/Warren kiss scenario topic.

Layla finally came to the decision that her friend was right. She did need something to compare Will's kiss to. And though she didn't quite subscribe to the best friend comparison theory that Magenta was spouting the other day; she figured if anyone was going to be completely honest with her it would be Warren. She was half convinced the guy didn't really know how to lie…how's that for going against stereotypes?

It was Thursday, voting would be closed tomorrow. She needed to figure out what to do, and she needed to figure it out sooner than later.

And she spent the whole day debating the point. She was so worked up about it that when she told her mother that she was going for a walk that evening after dinner, she had no destination in mind. She wandered for a while contemplating the predicament, and somehow found herself standing outside a quaint little restaurant. She looked into the front window to see her favorite busboy cleaning off the tables, and she realized that she had been out for longer than she had thought; it was apparently close to closing time.

She went in anyway. The bell over the door jingled as she entered, catching Ming's attention. Ming was ready to kick out the person who was unable to read that they were closed, but smiled instead. Those who worked at the Paper Lantern were generally not given to gambling; but there was a fairly lucrative pool going on how long it would take for the petit redhead standing in the doorway and their resident flamethrower to get together.

So Ming smiled her knowing smile and gestured for the young woman to sit wherever she wanted. Layla returned the smile and made her way to her usual booth.

"You know the kitchen is closed, I don't think there's much of a point of ordering anything." Warren said.

"Oh, I know." Layla said, "I was just stopping by to see you."

Warren arched one eyebrow. "You went out for a walk and completely lost track of time and where you were, you got scared and want me to walk you home."

"If you insist." Layla agreed, he snorted and shook his head. He was correct on all accounts. Though at his jokingly pointing out that she was scared to walk home by herself, horrible scenarios played through her head about what could have happened, as she had wandered not paying any mind to her surroundings and the fading light. Yup, she was scared. And she was glad that he would notice and do something about it without making her feel like an idiot.

She didn't have to wait long. And soon they were walking toward her house, their arms linked. It was actually more of him tolerating her clinging to his arm like it was the last hope of a drowning victim than the simple show of affection between to familiar parties.

He was her silent guardian. He didn't say anything as she blathered on about anything and everything, except of course what was really bothering her. It really wasn't a long way to her house and by the time they reached it, she had run out of things to mindlessly gab about.

As they reached the steps to her front porch, he finally broke his silence. "So what is really bothering you?" he asked.

"Why would something be bothering me?" She asked in her 'You just hit the nail on the head but I'm not going to admit that' voice.

He just looked at her, not unlike he did the first time she had blathered endlessly about Will.

And then she thought, well the game is up, rather than try hopelessly to find the words to explain the situation…she went for it.

Of course she had to do a rather impressive impersonation of a ballerina and stand on her tippy most tiptoes. And the only reason she was able to pull him the rest of the way was because she had the element of surprise on her side.

But she did it.

She kissed him.

It was a quick kiss, just their lips acquainting themselves, nothing passionate or investigative or even lingering; just a quick smooch of the lips. Something she and Will had done on several occasions in their brief one week of dating.

He said nothing. Which might have been ascribed to his astonishment at her audacity. But could also be ascribed to his ability to connect the dots (he had always excelled at those). Regardless, he waited patiently and expectantly with one eyebrow raised while she figured out what she wanted to figure out.

Layla had returned to her flat footed position standing in front of him trying desperately to keep her mind focused on the experimental aspect of the encounter and less on the panicky 'Oh my gosh, what did I just do?...I just kissed my friend, I just kissed my best friend and ex-boyfriend's best friend…I just kissed Warren…PANIC…' . Really that would get her nowhere.

While kissing both young men were pleasant experiences, there were definite difference. But for some reason her mind was telling her that she didn't have a big enough sample pool to adequately compare the two. So she looked him in the eye and said; "Would you mind terribly if we try that again?"

Warren couldn't help but be amused, and so did not object to the understood scientific exploration.

It was never disclosed exactly how many kisses were added to the sample pool, what kind of kisses and the length of time of engagement. The knowledge was left to the two participants in the experiment; both of which seemed to be completely satisfied with the outcome of the experiment.

Even though neither Layla nor Warren spoke of the incident…ever…it was quite obvious to Magenta that something had happened. It was actually hard not to comprehend when she saw the Cheshire grin that refused to leave Layla's countenance that Friday at school, and the entire weekend. And the complete and total lack of any resistance of any kind on Warren's part when Layla said they were going to attend the dance…together…as friends of course.

But it remained a mystery to everyone else, including Will himself, how it was that the reason he lost the title of Valentine's Day Dance King, was insufficient rating on his kiss. Especially because he had watched Layla place her confidential rating slip in the box the last day that votes were being taken. But he and the rest of the school determined that, since of course Layla had never kissed anyone else, that there simply was not enough convincible evidence to give a 'non biased' rating.

So it was that the Freshmen Five, with the help of Principal Powers, spent the rest of February trying to convince The Commander that Coach Boomer had not kept his son from obtaining a position that should rightfully be his.

At this point the narrator suspects that The Commander didn't really pay attention to what the honor or position was in this instance…

But that is really how it all started…


End file.
